Chapter VIII: Part II (1)

OBSERVATIONS UPON THE APOCALYPSE OF St. _JOHN_.

* * * * *

CHAP. I.

_Introduction, concerning the time when the _Apocalypse_ was written_.

_Irenæus_ introduced an opinion that the _Apocalypse_ was written in the time of _Domitian_; but then he also postponed the writing of some others of the sacred books, and was to place the _Apocalypse_ after them: he might perhaps have heard from his master _Polycarp_ that he had received this book from _John_ about the time of _Domitian_'s death; or indeed _John_ might himself at that time have made a new publication of it, from whence _Irenæus_ might imagine it was then but newly written. _Eusebius_ in his _Chronicle_ and _Ecclesiastical History_ follows _Irenoeus_; but afterwards [1] in his _Evangelical Demonstrations_, he conjoins the banishment of _John_ into _Patmos_, with the deaths of _Peter_ and _Paul_: and so do [2] _Tertullian_ and _Pseudo-Prochorus_, as well as the first author, whoever he was, of that very antient fable, that _John_ was put by _Nero_ into a vessel of hot oil, and coming out unhurt, was banished by him into _Patmos._ Tho this story be no more than a fiction yet was it founded on a tradition of the first churches, that _John_ was banished into _Patmos_ in the days of _Nero_. _Epiphanius_ represents the _Gospel of John_ as written in the time of _Domitian_, and the _Apocalypse_ even before that of _Nero_. [3] _Arethas_ in the beginning of his Commentary quotes the opinion of _Irenæus_ from _Eusebius_, but follows it not: for he afterwards affirms the _Apocalypse_ was written before the destruction of _Jerusalem_, and that former commentators had expounded the sixth seal of that destruction.

With the opinion of the first Commentators agrees the tradition of the Churches of _Syria_, preserved to this day in the title of the _Syriac_ Version of the _Apocalypse_, which title is this: _The Revelation which was made to _John_ the Evangelist by God in the Island _Patmos_, into which he was banished by _Nero_ the _Cæsar__. The fame is confirmed by a story told by [4] _Eusebius_ out of _Clemens Alexandrinus_, and other antient authors, concerning a youth, whom _John_ some time after his return from _Patmos_ committed to the care of the Bishop of a certain city. The Bishop educated, instructed, and at length baptized him; but then remitting of his care, the young man thereupon got into ill company, and began by degrees first to revel and grow vitious, then to abuse and spoil those he met in the night; and at last grew so desperate, that his companions turning a band of high-way men, made him their Captain: and, saith [5] _Chrysostom_, he continued their Captain a long time. At length _John_ returning to that city, and hearing what was done, rode to the thief; and, when he out of reverence to his old master fled, _John_ rode after him, recalled him, and restored him to the Church. This is a story of many years, and requires that _John_ should have returned from _Patmos_ rather at the death of _Nero_ than at that of _Domitian_; because between the death of _Domitian_ and that of _John_ there were but two years and an half; and _John_ in his old age was [6] so infirm as to be carried to Church, dying above 90 years old, and therefore could not be then suppos'd able to ride after the thief.

This opinion is further supported by the allusions in the _Apocalypse_ to the Temple and Altar, and holy City, as then standing; and to the _Gentiles_, who were soon after to tread under foot the holy City and outward Court. 'Tis confirmed also by the style of the _Apocalypse_ itself, which is fuller of _Hebraisms_ than his Gospel. For thence it may be gathered, that it was written when _John_ was newly come out of _Judea_, where he had been used to the _Syriac_ tongue; and that he did not write his Gospel, till by long converse with the _Asiatick_ Greeks he had left off most of the _Hebraisms_. It is confirmed also by the many false _Apocalypses_, as those of _Peter_, _Paul_, _Thomas_, _Stephen_, _Elias_ and _Cerinthus_, written in imitation of the true one. For as the many false Gospels, false Acts, and false Epistles were occasioned by true ones; and the writing many false _Apocalypses_, and ascribing them to Apostles and Prophets, argues that there was a true Apostolic one in great request with the first _Christians_: so this true one may well be suppos'd to have been written early, that there may be room in the Apostolic age for the writing of so many false ones afterwards, and fathering them upon _Peter_, _Paul_, _Thomas_ and others, who were dead before _John_. _Caius_, who was contemporary with _Tertullian_, [7] tells us that _Cerinthus_ wrote his Revelations as a great Apostle, and pretended the visions were shewn him by Angels, asserting a _millennium_ of carnal pleasures at _Jerusalem_ after the resurrection; so that his _Apocalypse_ was plainly written in imitation of _John_'s: and yet he lived so early, that [8] he resisted the Apostles at _Jerusalem_ in or before the first year of _Claudius_, that is, 26 years before the death of _Nero_, and [9] died before _John_.

These reasons may suffice for determining the time; and yet there is one more, which to considering men may seem a good reason, to others not. I'll propound it, and leave it to every man's judgment. The _Apocalypse_ seems to be alluded to in the Epistles of _Peter_ and that to the _Hebrews_ and therefore to have been written before them. Such allusions in the Epistle to the _Hebrews_, I take to be the discourses concerning the High-Priest in the heavenly Tabernacle, who is both Priest and King, as was _Melchisedec_; and those concerning the _word of God_, with the _sharp two-edged sword_, the [Greek: sabbatismos], or _millennial_ rest, the _earth whose end is to be burned_, suppose by the lake of fire, _the judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries_, the _heavenly City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God_, the _cloud of witnesses, mount _Sion_, heavenly _Jerusalem_, general assembly, spirits of just men made perfect_, viz. by the resurrection, and _the shaking of heaven and earth, and removing them, that the new heaven, new earth and new kingdom which cannot be shaken, may remain_. In the first of _Peter_ occur these: [10] _The Revelation of Jesus Christ_, twice or thrice repeated; [11] the _blood of _Christ_ as of a Lamb foreordained before the foundation of the world_; [12] the _spiritual building_ in heaven, 1 Pet. ii. 5. _an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us, who are kept unto the salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time_, 1 Pet. i. 4, 5. [13] the _royal Priesthood_, [14] the _holy Priesthood_, [15] the _judgment beginning at the house of God_, and [16] _the Church at _Babylon__. These are indeed obscurer allusions; but the second Epistle, from the 19th verse of the first Chapter to the end, seems to be a continued Commentary upon the _Apocalypse_. There, in writing to the _Churches in _Asia__, to whom _John_ was commanded to send this Prophecy, he tells them, they _have a more sure word of Prophecy_, to be heeded by them, _as a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in their hearts_, that is, until they begin to understand it: for _no Prophecy_, saith he, _of the scripture is of any private interpretation; the Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Daniel_ [17] himself professes that he understood not his own _Prophecies_; and therefore the Churches were not to expect the interpretation from their Prophet _John_, but to study the Prophecies themselves. This is the substance of what _Peter_ says in the first chapter; and then in the second he proceeds to describe, out of this _sure word of Prophecy_, how there should arise in the Church _false Prophets_, or _false teachers_, expressed collectively in the _Apocalypse_ by the name of the false Prophet; who should _bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them_, which is the character of _Antichrist_: _And many_, saith he, _shall follow their lusts_ [18]; they that dwell on the earth [19] shall be deceived by the false Prophet, and be made drunk with the wine of the Whore's fornication, _by reason of whom the way of truth shall be blasphemed_; for [20] the Beast is full of blasphemy: _and thro' covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandize of you_; for these are the Merchants of the Earth, who trade with the great Whore, and their merchandize [21] is all things of price, with the bodies and souls of men: _whose judgment--lingreth not, and their damnation [22] slumbreth not_, but shall surely come upon them at the last day suddenly, as the flood upon _the old world_, and fire and brimstone upon _Sodom_ and _Gomorrha_, when the just shall be delivered [23] like _Lot_; for _the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished_, in the lake of fire; _but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness_, [24] being made drunk with the wine of the Whore's fornication; who _despise dominion, and are not afraid to blaspheme glories_; for the beast opened his mouth against God [25] to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. _These, as natural brute beasts_, the ten-horned beast and two-horned beast, or false Prophet, _made to be taken and destroyed_, in the lake of fire, _blaspheme the things they understand not_:--they count it pleasure to riot in the day-time--sporting themselves with their own deceivings, while they feast [26] with you, _having eyes full of an [27] Adulteress_: for the kingdoms of the beast live deliciously with the great Whore, and the nations are made drunk with the wine of her fornication. They _are gone astray, following the way of _Balaam_, the son of _Beor_, who loved the wages of unrighteousness_, the false Prophet [28] who taught _Balak_ to cast a stumbling-block before the children of _Israel_. _These are_, not fountains of living water, but _wells without water_; not such clouds of Saints as the two witnesses ascend in, but _clouds that are carried with a tempest_, &c. Thus does the author of this Epistle spend all the second Chapter in describing the qualities of the _Apocalyptic_ Beasts and false Prophet: and then in the third he goes on to describe their destruction more fully, and the future kingdom. He saith, that because the coming of _Christ_ should be long deferred, they should scoff, saying, _where is the promise of his coming_? Then he describes the sudden coming of the day of the Lord upon them, _as a thief in the night_, which is the _Apocalyptic_ phrase; and the _millennium_, or _thousand years_, which _are with God but as a day_; the _passing away of the old heavens_ and earth, by a conflagration in the lake of fire, and our _looking for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness_.

Seeing therefore _Peter_ and _John_ were Apostles of the circumcision, it seems to me that they staid with their Churches in _Judea_ and _Syria_ till the _Romans_ made war upon their nation, that is, till the twelfth year of _Nero_; that they then followed the main body of their flying Churches into _Asia_, and that _Peter_ went thence by _Corinth_ to _Rome_; that the _Roman_ Empire looked upon those Churches as enemies, because _Jews_ by birth; and therefore to prevent insurrections, secured their leaders, and banished _John_ into _Patmos_. It seems also probable to me that the _Apocalypse_ was there composed, and that soon after the Epistle to the _Hebrews_ and those of _Peter_ were written to these Churches, with reference to this Prophecy as what they were particularly concerned in. For it appears by these Epistles, that they were written in times of general affliction and tribulation under the heathens, and by consequence when the Empire made war upon the _Jews_; for till then the heathens were at peace with the _Christian Jews_, as well as with the rest. The Epistle to the _Hebrews_, since it mentions _Timothy_ as related to those _Hebrews_, must be written to them after their flight into _Asia_, where _Timothy_ was Bishop; and by consequence after the war began, the _Hebrews_ in _Judea_ being strangers to _Timothy_. _Peter_ seems also to call _Rome_ _Babylon_, as well with respect to the war made upon _Judea_, and the approaching captivity, like that under old _Babylon_, as with respect to that name in the _Apocalypse_: and in writing _to the strangers scattered thro'out _Pontus_, _Galatia_, _Cappadocia_, _Asia_ and _Bithynia__, he seems to intimate that they were the strangers newly scattered by the _Roman_ wars; for those were the only strangers there belonging to his care.

This account of things agrees best with history when duly rectified. For [29] _Justin_ and [30] _Irenæus_ say, that _Simon Magus_ came to _Rome_ in the reign of _Claudius_, and exercised juggling tricks there. _Pseudo-Clemens_ adds, that he endeavoured there to fly, but broke his neck thro' the prayers of _Peter_. Whence [31] _Eusebius_, or rather his interpolator _Jerom_, has recorded, that _Peter_ came to _Rome_ in the second year of _Claudius_: but [32] _Cyril_ Bishop of _Jerusalem_, _Philastrius_, _Sulpitius_, _Prosper_, _Maximus Taurinensis_, and _Hegesippus junior_, place this victory of _Peter_ in the time of _Nero_. Indeed the antienter tradition was, that _Peter_ came to _Rome_ in the days of this Emperor, as may be seen in [33] _Lactantius_. _Chrysostom_ [34] tells us, that the Apostles continued long in _Judea_, and that then being driven out by the _Jews_ they went to the _Gentiles_. This dispersion was in the first year of the _Jewish_ war, when the _Jews_, as _Josephus_ tells us, began to be tumultuous and violent in all places. For all agree that the Apostles were dispersed into several regions at once; and _Origen_ has set down the time, [35] telling us that in the beginning of the _Judaic_ war, the Apostles and disciples of our Lord were scattered into all nations; _Thomas_ into _Parthia_, _Andrew_ into _Scythia_, _John_ into _Asia_, and _Peter_ first into _Asia_, where he preacht to the dispersion, and thence into _Italy_. [36] _Dionysius Corinthius_ saith, that _Peter_ went from _Asia_ by _Corinth_ to _Rome_, and all antiquity agrees that _Peter_ and _Paul_ were martyred there in the end of _Nero_'s reign. _Mark_ went with _Timothy_ to _Rome_, 2 _Tim._ iv. 11. _Colos._ iv. 10. _Sylvanus_ was _Paul_'s assistant; and by the companions of _Peter_, mentioned in his first Epistle, we may know that he wrote from _Rome_; and the Antients generally agree, that in this Epistle he understood _Rome_ by _Babylon_. His second Epistle was writ to the same dispersed strangers with the first, 2 _Pet._ iii. 1. and therein he saith, that _Paul_ had writ of the same things to them, and also in his other Epistles, _ver._ 15, 16. Now as there is no Epistle of _Paul_ to these strangers besides that to the _Hebrews_, so in this Epistle, chap. x. 11, 12. we find at large all those things which _Peter_ had been speaking of, and here refers to; particularly the _passing away of the old heavens and earth_, and _establishing an inheritance immoveable_, with an exhortation to grace, because _God_, to the wicked, _is a consuming fire_, Heb. xii. 25, 26, 28, 29.

Having determined the time of writing the _Apocalyse_, I need not say much about the truth of it, since it was in such request with the first ages, that many endeavoured to imitate it, by feigning _Apocalypses_ under the Apostles names; and the Apostles themselves, as I have just now shewed, studied it, and used its phrases; by which means the style of the Epistle to the _Hebrews_ became more mystical than that of _Paul_'s other Epistles, and the style of _John_'s Gospel more figurative and majestical than that of the other Gospels. I do not apprehend that _Christ_ was called the word of God in any book of the New Testament written before the _Apocalypse_; and therefore am of opinion, the language was taken from this Prophecy, as were also many other phrases in this Gospel, such as those of _Christ_'s being _the light which enlightens the world, the lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world, the bridegroom, he that testifieth, he that came down from heaven, the Son of God_, &c. _Justin Martyr_, who within thirty years after _John_'s death became a _Christian_, writes expresly that _a certain man among the _Christians_ whose name was _John_, one of the twelve Apostles of _Christ_, in the Revelation which was shewed him, prophesied that those who believed in _Christ_ should live a thousand years at _Jerusalem__. And a few lines before he saith: _But I, and as many as are _Christians_, in all things right in their opinions, believe both that there shall be a resurrection of the flesh, and a thousand years life at _Jerusalem_ built, adorned and enlarged_. Which is as much as to say, that all true _Christians_ in that early age received this Prophecy: for in all ages, as many as believed the thousand years, received the _Apocalypse_ as the foundation of their opinion: and I do not know one instance to the contrary. _Papias_ Bishop of _Hierapolis_, a man of the Apostolic age, and one of _John_'s own disciples, did not only teach the doctrine of the thousand years, but also [37] asserted the _Apocalypse_ as written by divine inspiration. _Melito_, who flourished next after _Justin_, [38] wrote a commentary upon this Prophecy; and he, being Bishop of _Sardis_ one of the seven Churches, could neither be ignorant of their tradition about it, nor impose upon them. _Irenæus_, who was contemporary with _Melito_, wrote much upon it, and said, that _the number 666 was in all the antient and approved copies; and that he had it also confirmed to him by those who had seen _John_ face to face_, meaning no doubt his master _Polycarp_ for one. At the same time [39] _Theophilus_ Bishop of _Antioch_ asserted it, and so did _Tertullian_, _Clemens Alexandrinus_, and _Origen_ soon after; and their contemporary _Hippolytus_ the Martyr, Metropolitan of the _Arabians_, [40] wrote a commentary upon it. All these were antient men, flourishing within a hundred and twenty years after _John_'s death, and of greatest note in the Churches of those times. Soon after did _Victorinus Pictaviensis_ write another commentary upon it; and he lived in the time of _Dioclesian_. This may surely suffice to shew how the _Apocalypse_ was received and studied in the first ages: and I do not indeed find any other book of the New Testament so strongly attested, or commented upon so early as this. The Prophecy said: _Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this Prophecy, and keep the things which are written therein._ This animated the first _Christians_ to study it so much, till the difficulty made them remit, and comment more upon the other books of the New Testament. This was the state of the _Apocalypse_, till the thousand years being misunderstood, brought a prejudice against it: and _Dionysius_ of _Alexandria_, noting how it abounded with barbarisms, that is with _Hebraisms_, promoted that prejudice so far, as to cause many _Greeks_ in the fourth century to doubt of the book. But whilst the _Latins_, and a great part of the _Greeks_, always retained the _Apocalypse_, and the rest doubted only out of prejudice, it makes nothing against its authority.

This Prophecy is called _the Revelation_, with respect to _the scripture of truth_, which _Daniel_ [41] was commanded to _shut up and seal, till the time of the end_. _Daniel_ sealed it _until the time of the end_; and until that time comes, the Lamb is opening the seals: and afterwards the two Witnesses prophesy out of it a long time in sack-cloth, before they ascend up to heaven in a cloud. All which is as much as to say, that these Prophecies of _Daniel_ and _John_ should not be understood till the time of the end: but then some should prophesy out of them in an afflicted and mournful state for a long time, and that but darkly, so as to convert but few. But in the very end, the Prophecy should be so far interpreted as to convince many. _Then_, saith _Daniel, many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be encreased_. For the Gospel must be preached in all nations before the great tribulation, and end of the world. The palm-bearing multitude, which come out of this great tribulation, cannot be innumerable out of all nations, unless they be made so by the preaching of the Gospel before it comes. There must be a stone cut out of a mountain without hands, before it can fall upon the toes of the Image, and become a great mountain and fill the earth. An Angel must fly thro' the midst of heaven with the everlasting Gospel to preach to all nations, before _Babylon_ falls, and the Son of man reaps his harvest. The two Prophets must ascend up to heaven in a cloud, before the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of _Christ_. 'Tis therefore a part of this Prophecy, that it should not be understood before the last age of the world; and therefore it makes for the credit of the Prophecy, that it is not yet understood. But if the last age, the age of opening these things, be now approaching, as by the great successes of late Interpreters it seems to be, we have more encouragement than ever to look into these things. If the general preaching of the Gospel be approaching, it is to us and our posterity that those words mainly belong: [42] _In the time of the end the wise shall understand, but none of the wicked shall understand. [43] Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this Prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein._

The folly of Interpreters has been, to foretel times and things by this Prophecy, as if God designed to make them Prophets. By this rashness they have not only exposed themselves, but brought the Prophecy also into contempt. The design of God was much otherwise. He gave this and the Prophecies of the Old Testament, not to gratify men's curiosities by enabling them to foreknow things, but that after they were fulfilled they might be interpreted by the event, and his own Providence, not the Interpreters, be then manifested thereby to the world. For the event of things predicted many ages before, will then be a convincing argument that the world is governed by providence. For as the few and obscure Prophecies concerning _Christ_'s first coming were for setting up the _Christian_ religion, which all nations have since corrupted; so the many and clear Prophecies concerning the things to be done at _Christ_'s second coming, are not only for predicting but also for effecting a recovery and re-establishment of the long-lost truth, and setting up a kingdom wherein dwells righteousness. The event will prove the _Apocalypse_; and this Prophecy, thus proved and understood, will open the old Prophets, and all together will make known the true religion, and establish it. For he that will understand the old Prophets, must begin with this; but the time is not yet come for understanding them perfectly, because the main revolution predicted in them is not yet come to pass. _In the days of the voice of the seventh Angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God shall be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the Prophets_: and then _the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and his _Christ_, and he shall reign for ever_, Apoc. x. 7. xi. 15. There is already so much of the Prophecy fulfilled, that as many as will take pains in this study, may see sufficient instances of God's providence: but then the signal revolutions predicted by all the holy Prophets, will at once both turn mens eyes upon considering the predictions, and plainly interpret them. Till then we must content ourselves with interpreting what hath been already fulfilled.

Amongst the Interpreters of the last age there is scarce one of note who hath not made some discovery worth knowing; and thence I seem to gather that God is about opening these mysteries. The success of others put me upon considering it; and if I have done any thing which may be useful to following writers, I have my design.

Notes to Chap. I.

[1] Dem. Evang. l. 3.

[2] Vid. _Pamelium_ in notis ad _Tertull._ de Præscriptionbus, n. 215 & _Hieron_ l. 1. contra _Jovinianum_, c. 14. Edit._Erasmi._

[3] Areth. c. 18, 19.

[4] Hist. Eccl. l. 3. c. 23.

[5] Chrysost. ad Theodorum lapsum.

[6] Hieron. in Epist. ad Gal. l. 3. c. 6.

[7] Apud Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 28. Edit. _Valesii_.

[8] Epiphan. Hæres. 28.

[9] Hieron. adv. Lucif.

[10] 1 Pet. i. 7, 13. iv. 13. & v. 1.

[11] Apoc. xiii. 8.

[12] Apoc. xxi.

[13] Apoc. i. 6. & v. 10.

[14] Apoc. xx. 6.

[15] Apoc. xx. 4, 12.

[16] Apoc. xvii.

[17] Dan. viii. 15, 16, 27. & xii. 8, 9.

[18] [Greek: aselgeias], _in many of the best MSS._

[19] Apoc. xiii. 7, 12.

[20] Apoc. xiii. 1, 5, 6.

[21] Apoc. xviii. 12, 13.

[22] Apoc. xix. 20.

[23] Apoc. xxi. 3, 4.

[24] Apoc. ix. 21. _and_ xvii. 2.

[25] Apoc. xiii. 6.

[26] Apoc. xviii. 3, 7, 9.

[27] [Greek: moichalidos].

[28] Apoc. ii. 14.

[29] Apol. ad Antonin. Pium.

[30] Hæres. l. 1. c. 20. Vide etiam Tertullianum, Apol. c. 13.

[31] Euseb. Chron.

[32] Cyril Catech. 6. Philastr. de hæres. cap. 30. Sulp. Hist. l. 2. Prosper de promiss. dimid. temp. cap. 13. Maximus serm. 5. in Natal. Apost. Hegesip. l. 2. c. 2.

[33] Lactant de mortib. Persec. c. 2.

[34] Hom. 70. in Matt. c. 22.

[35] Apud Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 2. c. 25.

[36] Euseb. Hist. l. 2. c. 25.

[37] Arethas in Proæm. comment. in Apoc.

[38] Euseb. Hist. l. 4. cap. 26. Hieron.

[39] Euseb. Hist. l. 4. c. 24.

[40] Hieron.

[41] Dan. x. 21. xii. 4, 9.

[42] Dan. xii. 4, 10.

[43] Apoc. i. 3.

* * * * *

CHAP. II.

_Of the relation which the _Apocalypse_ of _John_ hath to the Book of the Law of _Moses_, and to the worship of God in the Temple_.

The _Apocalypse_ of _John_ is written in the same style and language with the Prophecies of _Daniel_, and hath the same relation to them which they have to one another, so that all of them together make but one complete Prophecy; and in like manner it consists of two parts, an introductory Prophecy, and an Interpretation thereof.

The Prophecy is distinguish'd into seven successive parts, by the opening of the seven seals of the book which _Daniel_ was commanded to seal up: and hence it is called the _Apocalypse_ or _Revelation_ of _Jesus Christ_. The time of the seventh seal is sub-divided into eight successive parts by the silence in heaven for half an hour, and the sounding of seven trumpets successively: and the seventh trumpet sounds to the battle of the great day of God Almighty, whereby _the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ_, and those are destroyed that destroyed the earth.

The Interpretation begins with the words, _And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the Ark of his Testament_: and it continues to the end of the Prophecy. The Temple is the scene of the visions, and the visions in the Temple relate to the feast of the seventh month: for the feasts of the _Jews_ were typical of things to come. The Passover related to the first coming of _Christ_, and the feasts of the seventh month to his second coming: his first coming being therefore over before this Prophecy was given, the feasts of the seventh month are here only alluded unto.

On the first day of that month, in the morning, the High-Priest dressed the lamps: and in allusion hereunto, this Prophecy begins with a vision of one like _the Son of man_ in the High-Priest's habit, appearing as it were in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, or over against the midst of them, dressing the lamps, which appeared like a rod of seven stars in his right hand: and this dressing was perform'd by the sending seven Epistles to the Angels or Bishops of the seven Churches of _Asia_, which in the primitive times illuminated the Temple or Church Catholick. These Epistles contain admonitions against the approaching Apostacy, and therefore relate to the times when the Apostacy began to work strongly, and before it prevailed. It began to work in the Apostles days, and was to continue working _till the man of sin should be revealed_. It began to work in the disciples of _Simon_, _Menander_, _Carpocrates_, _Cerinthas_, and such sorts of men as had imbibed the metaphysical philosophy of the _Gentiles_ and _Cabalistical Jews_, and were thence called _Gnosticks_. _John_ calls them _Antichrists_, saying that in his days there were many _Antichrists_. But these being condemned by the Apostles, and their immediate disciples, put the Churches in no danger during the opening of the first four seals. The visions at the opening of these seals relate only to the civil affairs of the heathen _Roman_ Empire. So long the Apostolic traditions prevailed, and preserved the Church in its purity: and therefore the affairs of the Church do not begin to be considered in this Prophecy before the opening of the fifth seal. She began then to decline, and to want admonitions; and therefore is admonished by these Epistles, till the Apostacy prevailed and took place, which was at the opening of the seventh seal. The admonitions therefore in these seven Epistles relate to the state of the Church in the times of the fifth and sixth seals. At the opening of the fifth seal, the Church is purged from hypocrites by a great persecution. At the opening of the sixth, that which letted is taken out of the way, namely the heathen _Roman_ Empire. At the opening of the seventh, the man of sin is revealed. And to these times the seven Epistles relate.

The seven Angels, to whom these Epistles were written, answer to the seven _Amarc-holim_, who were Priests and chief Officers of the Temple, and had jointly the keys of the gates of the Temple, with those of the Treasuries, and the direction, appointment and oversight of all things in the Temple.

After the lamps were dresed, _John_ saw _the door_ of the Temple _opened_; and by _the voice as it were of a trumpet_, was called up to the eastern gate of the great court, to see the visions: and _behold a throne was set_, viz. the mercy-seat upon the Ark of the Testament, which the _Jews_ respected as _the throne of God between the _Cherubims__, _Exod._ xxv. 2. _Psal._ xcix. 1. _And he that sat on it was to look upon like _Jasper_ and _Sardine_ stone_, that is, of an olive colour, the people of _Judea_ being of that colour. _And_, the Sun being then in the _East, a rainbow was about the throne_, the emblem of glory. _And round about the throne were four and twenty seats_; answering to the chambers of the four and twenty Princes of the Priests, twelve on the south side, and twelve on the north side of the Priests Court. _And upon the seats were four and twenty Elders sitting, clothed in white rayment, with crowns on their heads_; representing the Princes of the four and twenty courses of the Priests clothed in linen. _And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings, and voices_, viz. the flashes of the fire upon the Altar at the morning-sacrifice, and the thundering voices of those that sounded the trumpets, and sung at the Eastern gate of the Priests Court; for these being between _John_ and the throne appeared to him as proceeding from the throne. _And there were seven lamps of fire burning_, in the Temple, _before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God_, or Angels of the seven Churches, represented in the beginning of this Prophecy by seven stars. _And before the throne was a sea of glass clear as chrystal_; the brazen sea between the porch of the Temple and the Altar, filled with clear water. _And in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four Beasts full of eyes before and behind_: that is, one Beast before the throne and one behind it, appearing to _John_ as in the midst of the throne, and one on either side in the circle about it, to represent by the multitude of their eyes the people standing in the four sides of the peoples court. _And the first Beast was like a lion, and the second was like a calf, and the third had the face of a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle_. The people of _Israel_ in the wilderness encamped round about the tabernacle, and on the east side were three tribes under the standard of _Judah_, on the west were three tribes under the standard of _Ephraim_, on the south were three tribes under the standard of _Reuben_, and on the north were three tribes under the standard of _Dan_, _Numb._ ii. And the standard of _Judah_ was a Lion, that of _Ephraim_ an Ox, that of _Reuben_ a Man, and that of _Dan_ an Eagle, as the _Jews_ affirm. Whence were framed the hieroglyphicks of _Cherubims_ and _Seraphims_, to represent the people of _Israel_. A _Cherubim_ had one body with four faces, the faces of a Lion, an Ox, a Man and an Eagle, looking to the four winds of heaven, without turning about, as in _Ezekiel_'s vision, chap. i. And four _Seraphims_ had the same four faces with four bodies, one face to every body. The four Beasts are therefore four _Seraphims_ standing in the four sides of the peoples court; the first in the eastern side with the head of a Lion, the second in the western side with the head of an Ox, the third in the southern side with the head of a Man, the fourth in the northern side with the head of an Eagle: and all four signify together the twelve tribes of _Israel_, out of whom the hundred forty and four thousand were sealed, _Apoc._ vii. 4. _And the four Beasts had each of them six wings_, two to a tribe, in all twenty and four wings, answering to the twenty and four stations of the people. _And they were full of eyes within_, or under their wings. _And they rest not day and night_, or at the morning and evening-sacrifices, _saying, holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come_. These animals are therefore the Seraphims, which appeared to _Isaiah_ [1] in a vision like this of the _Apocalypse_. For there also the Lord sat upon a throne in the temple; and the Seraphims each with six wings cried, _Holy, holy, holy Lord God of hosts. And when those animals give glory and honour and thanks to him that sitteth upon the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty Elders_ go into the Temple, and there _fall down before him that sitteth on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created_. At the morning and evening-sacrifices, so soon as the sacrifice was laid upon the Altar, and the drink-offering began to be poured out, the trumpets sounded, and the _Levites_ sang by course three times; and every time when the trumpets sounded, the people fell down and worshiped. Three times therefore did the people worship; to express which number, the Beasts cry _Holy, holy, holy_: and the song being ended, the people prayed standing, till the solemnity was finished. In the mean time the Priests went into the Temple, and there fell down before him that sat upon the throne, and worshiped.

_And _John_ saw, in the right hand of him that sat upon the throne, a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals_, viz. the book which _Daniel_ was commanded to seal up, and which is here represented by the prophetic book of the Law laid up on the right side of the Ark, as it were in the right hand of him that sat on the throne: for the festivals and ceremonies of the Law prescribed to the people in this book, adumbrated those things which were predicted in the book of _Daniel_; and the writing within and on the backside of this book, relates to the synchronal Prophecies. [2] _And none was found worthy to open the book_ but the Lamb of God. _And lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four Beasts, and in the midst of the Elders_, that is, at the foot of the Altar, _stood a lamb as it had been slain_, the morning-sacrifice; _having seven horns_, which are the seven Churches, _and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came, and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne: And when he had taken the book, the four Beasts and four and twenty Elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us, unto our God, Kings and Priests, and we shall reign on the earth._ The Beasts and Elders therefore represent the primitive _Christians_ of all nations; and the worship of these _Christians_ in their Churches is here represented under the form of worshiping God and the Lamb in the Temple: God for his benefaction in creating all things, and the Lamb for his benefaction in redeeming us with his blood: God as sitting upon the throne and living for ever, and the Lamb as exalted above all by the merits of his death. _And I heard_, saith _John_, _the voice of many Angels round about the throne, and the Beasts and the Elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I, saying, Blessing, honour, glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four Beasts said, _Amen_. And the four and twenty Elders fell down and worshiped him that liveth for ever and ever._ This was the worship of the primitive _Christians_.

It was the custom for the High-Priest, seven days before the fast of the seventh month, to continue constantly in the Temple, and study the book of the Law, that he might be perfect in it against the day of expiation; wherein the service, which was various and intricate, was wholly to be performed by himself; part of which service was reading the Law to the people: and to promote his studying it, there were certain Priests appointed by the _Sanhedrim_ to be with him those seven days in one of his chambers in the Temple, and there to discourse with him about the Law, and read it to him, and put him in mind of reading and studying it himself. This his opening and reading the Law those seven days, is alluded unto in the Lamb's opening the seals. We are to conceive that those seven days begin in the evening before each day; for the _Jews_ began their day in the evening, and that the solemnity of the fast begins in the morning of the seventh day.

The seventh seal was therefore opened on the day of expiation, and then _there was silence in heaven for half an hour. And an Angel_, the High-Priest, _stood at the Altar, having a golden Censer; and there was given him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all Saints, upon the golden Altar which was before the throne_. The custom was on other days, for one of the Priests to take fire from the great Altar in a silver Censer; but on this day, for the High-Priest to take fire from the great Altar in a golden Censer: and when he was come down from the great Altar, he took incense from one of the Priests who brought it to him, and went with it to the golden Altar: and while he offered the incense, the people prayed without in silence, which is the silence in heaven for half an hour. When the High-Priest had laid the incense on the Altar, he carried a Censer of it burning in his hand, into the most holy place before the Ark. _And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the Saints, ascended up before God out of the Angel's hand._ On other days there was a certain measure of incense for the golden Altar: on this day there was a greater quantity for both the Altar and the most holy Place, and therefore it is called _much incense_. After this _the Angel took the Censer, and filled it with fire from the_ great _Altar, and cast it into the earth_; that is, by the hands of the Priests who belong to his mystical body, he cast it to the earth without the Temple, for burning the Goat which was the Lord's lot. _And_ at this and other concomitant sacrifices, until the evening-sacrifice was ended, _there were voices, and thundrings, and lightnings, and an earthquake_; that is, the voice of the High-Priest reading the Law to the people, and other voices and thundrings from the trumpets and temple-musick at the sacrifices, and lightnings from the fire of the Altar.

The solemnity of the day of expiation being finished, the seven Angels found their trumpets at the great sacrifices of the seven days of the feast of tabernacles; and at the same sacrifices, the seven thunders utter their voices, which are the musick of the Temple, and singing of the _Levites_, intermixed with the soundings of the trumpets: and the seven Angels pour out their vials of wrath, which are the drink-offerings of those sacrifices.

When six of the seals were opened, _John_ said: [3] _And after these things_, that is, after the visions of the sixth seal, _I saw four Angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another Angel ascending from the _East_, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four Angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads._ This sealing alludes to a tradition of the _Jews_, that upon the day of expiation all the people of _Israel_ are sealed up in the books of life and death. For the _Jews_ in their _Talmud_ [4] tell us, that in the beginning of every new year, or first day of the month _Tisri_, the seventh month of the sacred year, three books are opened in judgment; the book of life, in which the names of those are written who are perfectly just; the book of death, in which the names of those are written who are Atheists or very wicked; and a third book, of those whose judgment is suspended till the day of expiation, and whose names are not written in the book of life or death before that day. The first ten days of this month they call the penitential days; and all these days they fast and pray very much, and are very devout, that on the tenth day their sins may be remitted, and their names may be written in the book of life; which day is therefore called the day of expiation. And upon this tenth day, in returning home from the Synagogues, they say to one another, _God the creator seal you to a good year_. For they conceive that the books are now sealed up, and that the sentence of God remains unchanged henceforward to the end of the year. The same thing is signified by the two Goats, upon whose foreheads the High-Priest yearly, on the day of expiation, lays the two lots inscribed, _For God_ and _For _Azazel__; God's lot signifying the people who are sealed with the name of God in their foreheads; and the lot _Azazel_, which was sent into the wilderness, representing those who receive the mark and name of the Beast, and go into the wilderness with the great Whore.

The servants of God being therefore sealed in the day of expiation, we may conceive that this sealing is synchronal to the visions which appear upon opening the seventh seal; and that when the Lamb had opened six of the seals and seen the visions relating to the inside of the sixth, he looked on the backside of the seventh leaf, and then saw _the four Angels holding the four winds of heaven, and another Angel ascending from the _East_ with the seal of God_. Conceive also, that the Angels which held the four winds were the first four of the seven Angels, who upon opening the seventh seal were seen standing before God; and that upon their holding the winds, _there was silence in heaven for half an hour_; and that while the servants of God were sealing, the Angel with the golden Censer offered their prayers with incense upon the golden Altar, and read the Law: and that so soon as they were sealed, the winds hurt the earth at the sounding of the first trumpet, and the sea at the sounding of the second; these winds signifying the wars, to which the first four trumpets sounded. For as the first four seals are distinguished from the three last by the appearance of four horsemen towards the four winds of heaven; so the wars of the first four trumpets are distinguished from those of the three last, by representing these by _four winds_, and the others by _three great woes_.

In one of _Ezekiel_'s visions, when the _Babylonian_ captivity was at hand, _six men_ appeared _with slaughter-weapons_; _and a seventh_, who [5] appeared _among them clothed in white linen and a writer's ink-horn by his side_, is commanded to _go thro' the midst of _Jerusalem_, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations done in the midst thereof_: and then the six men, like the Angels of the first six trumpets, are commanded to slay those men who are not marked. Conceive therefore that the hundred forty and four thousand are sealed, to preserve them from the plagues of the first six trumpets; and that at length by the preaching of the everlasting gospel, they grow into _a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people and tongues_: and at the sounding of the seventh trumpet come out of the great tribulation _with Palms in their hands: the kingdoms of this world_, by the war to which that trumpet sounds, _becoming the kingdoms of God and his _Christ__. For the solemnity of the great _Hosannah_ was kept by the _Jews_ upon the seventh or last day of the feast of tabernacles; the _Jews_ upon that day carrying Palms in their hands, and crying _Hosannah_.

After six of the Angels, answering to the six men with slaughter-weapons, had sounded their trumpets, the Lamb in the form of _a mighty Angel cane down from heaven clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the Sun, and his feet as pillars of fire_, the shape in which _Christ_ appeared in the beginning of this Prophecy; _and he had in his hand a little book open_, the book which he had newly opened; for he received but one book from him that sitteth upon the throne, and he alone was worthy to open and look on this book. _And he set his right foot upon the sea and his left foot on the earth, and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth_. It was the custom for the High-Priest on the day of expiation, to stand in an elevated place in the peoples court, at the Eastern gate of the Priests court, and read the Law to the people, while the Heifer and the Goat which was the Lord's lot, were burning without the Temple. We may therefore suppose him standing in such a manner, that his right foot might appear to _John_ as it were standing on the sea of glass, and his left foot on the ground of the house; and that he cried with a loud voice, in reading the Law on the day of expiation. _And when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices_. Thunders are the voice of a cloud, and a cloud signifies a multitude; and this multitude may be the _Levites_, who sang with thundering voices, and played with musical instruments at the great sacrifices, on the seven days of the feast of Tabernacles: at which times the trumpets also sounded. For the trumpets sounded, and the _Levites_ sang alternately, three times at every sacrifice. The Prophecy therefore of the seven thunders is nothing else than a repetition of the Prophecy of the seven trumpets in another form. _And the Angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, that_ after the seven thunders _there should be time no longer; but in the days of the voice of the seventh Angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the Prophets_. The voices of the thunders therefore last to the end of this world, and so do those of the trumpets.

_And the voice which I heard from heaven_, saith _John_, _spake unto me again and said, Go and take the little book, &c. And I took the little book out of the Angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey, and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings_. This is an introduction to a new Prophecy, to a repetition of the Prophecy of the whole book; and alludes to _Ezekiel_'s eating a roll or book spread open before him, and written within and without, full of lamentations and mourning and woe, but sweet in his mouth. Eating and drinking signify acquiring and possessing; and eating the book is becoming inspired with the Prophecy contained in it. It implies being inspired in a vigorous and extraordinary manner with the Prophecy of the whole book, and therefore signifies a lively repetition of the whole Prophecy by way of interpretation, and begins not till the first Prophecy, that of the seals and trumpets, is ended. It was sweet in _John_'s mouth, and therefore begins not with the bitter Prophecy of the _Babylonian_ captivity, and the _Gentiles_ being in the outward court of the Temple, and treading the holy city under foot; and the prophesying of the _two Witnesses_ in sackcloth, and their smiting the earth with all plagues, and being killed by the Beast; but so soon as the Prophecy of the trumpets is ended, it begins with the sweet Prophecy of the glorious _Woman in heaven_, and the victory of _Michael_ over the Dragon; and after that, it is bitter in _John_'s belly, by a large description of the times of the great Apostacy.